Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
Already struggling under ‘food shortage’ North Korea had a second big issue raised when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rebuked top officials for failures in anti-epidemic work that put the safety of the country and people at risk.
The state news agency KCNA did not elaborate on what happened. Officials North Korea has not confirmed any covid case. But the reclusive country has imposed strict anti-virus measures, including border closures and domestic travel curbs.
The matter of lapse in anti-covid measures came up when Kim called a meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea politburo to address some party executives’ neglect of duty.
His address included failure to implement important long-term measures to fight the pandemic.
“He mentioned that senior officials in charge of important state affairs neglected the implementation of the important decisions of the Party and thus caused a crucial case of creating a great crisis in ensuring the security of the state and safety of the people and entailed grave consequences,” the report said.
Several politburo members, secretaries of the central committee, and officials of several state agencies were replaced at the meeting, though KCNA did not specify if the shakeups were related to the neglect of pandemic-related duty.
North Korea has treated the protection of its people from the coronavirus as a matter of national survival and anti-pandemic decisions are made by some of its most senior leaders, said Harvard Medical School’s Kee B Park, who has worked on health care projects in North Korea.
In 2020, North Korea had declared a state of emergency and locked down the border city of Kaesong after a person who defected to South Korea three years ago returned across the fortified border with what state media said were symptoms of covid.
“The main objective of North Korea’s strategy is to prevent the virus from even getting into the country while simultaneously strengthening its treatment capabilities as well as acquiring vaccines,” Park said.
The World Health Organization later said North Korea’s coronavirus test results for the man were inconclusive.
